"Life isn't about finding oneself. Life is about creating yourself." - George Bernard Shaw

Monday, August 10, 2009

Pear Shaped

With all the excitement of Shadow, I don't always keep up with things - so true to form I had forgotten my camera the second week of the mosaic class with Laura K Aiken. So this entry will be for the last two weeks. I started this post here if you want to see where it started. My hope was to learn the technique of mosaic and see if I could use it in my tapestry weaving. I learned a great deal and I'm excited about the mosaic itself. I just love learning new things and creating. Is there a better way to spend a Saturday AM? Okay maybe at the lake with a brand new dog, but that's another story.

The second week of class I worked on the table cloth below the pear. Here were just two values of the teal that allowed for the shadow of the pear. I did add in a number of small decorative bits (forgive me Laura for not remembering their name!) They were mostly circular where the mosaic glass was rectangular. Working to integrate those two shapes took all day! One of the things I love about classes is getting a true appreciation of how much it takes to create something like this. Whatever a mosaic artist charges - it's worth every penny!The third class involved the background. The color is purple and the color value did not have quite enough to cover the space, so I blended it with a slightly darker value. It was fun just to make a pile and start gluing them in place. It's almost like a jigsaw puzzle where I look for the right piece - except I get to decide what the right piece is!The glass tiles are quite varied. The thicknesses depend on the tile and how I cut it - which was completely random! Then the choice of which side of the tile to use can change is it is a solid colored, striped, flat, etc. While there is a plan, the tiles really "make as many decisions" as I do.And here is the finished piece. I was able to finish the background on the third day. The studio has a couple of skylights and the sun was straight down on the piece in the last half hour. I loved how the glass gleamed. The next step is to frame it!From here my thoughts are to recreate this with paper, but shift the colors - i.e. teal pear, purple tablecloth and red background. Then also to recreate in tapestry again shifting the colors. I had started this thinking that the mosaic would be my cartoon, but I've now decided to just create little blocks within an area and let the yarn dictate shapes and color blends. We'll see the piece is small enough there can be lots of experiments. I'm really curious to see how this will change from glass, shiny and 3D to yarn, soft and 2D. I'm sure there will some things lost and others found!

Until this post I had never really connected mosaic and tapestry....but now I see part of what they have in common. Quilting and stained glass are similar too.

I really envy your near-Laura location right now. Looks like your class was great! She did alert me to a mosaic exhibit near me (thru her blog) that also includes some mosaic workshops. I might have to give it a try this fall.

I love the little circular bits in the table! They make it more interesting for sure.

Is the pear all glued or grouted or whatever you do to secure it? Definitely a benefit of classes for me - the opportunity to stay focused and finish things!

such a lot of interesting and lovely work Jenn. I do like your idea of then turning it into a tapestry. I did that once with torn pieces of tissue paper, it can be good. You look very absorbed sitting there. cheers, Kaite

Yes - I will blog on the other media. I fnothing else I find explaining what I'm doing to others helps me crystallize what I'm trying to say. Thanks for the encouragement. I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes.

I enjoy delving into other media just to gain an appreciation and help me think differently about my own work. And like you say Sue, there is a deadline involved that causes one to choose wisely and finish!

Sue, For this piece, the glass is simply glued to the substrate - it's stronger glue, but is water soluble. I'm sure with a larger and more professional piece the glue and substrate become beefier. Laura did grout another piece she was working on during the class, but that involved different type of glass, plus tiles, etc.

Hi Jennifer and all!Thanks for all the kind workds on the workshop. Jennifer was the first to take the particular class. I work the class around what the student wants to accomplish from mosaic. The class was all about values and how if you have the right value no matter the color...the piece will work. I think Jennifer pulled it off perfectly. I sure hope we can work more in the future on projects. Sue you must try really hard to go to the Exhibition. You will not be sorry and ofcourse take lots of photos. OH the material that we used is called smalti which is a glass that is made up in pizza pattie like increments. This smalti was Italian, and purchased through http://www.mosaicsmalti.com Lynn is a mosaic friend of mine and very talented to boot.Again thanks Jennifer and hope to see you and Shadow soon!!